As explained in Elizabeth’s post a couple of weeks ago, Burrito doesn’t play with toys too often, but as you will see in the video below, he’s really been liking these popper toys these days! He played with this toy for at least an hour today. This video of Jamie and the popper toy comes to mind.
chimp enrichment
Brushing
A quick clip of two friends sharing a quiet moment together:
Seeing green(s)
Food is serious business to Burrito Chimpanzee and today he was seeing green. It’s been an unseasonably warm day today, so the greenhouse was a luxurious 60 degrees or so. We set up a huge lunch forage out there– I think Burrito was very happy with this decision.
Foxie’s muscle man
Greenhouse play
Here’s the video I promised in yesterday’s blog post. My favorite part is when Annie joins in the play (using her favorite blanket-swinging method of play initiation), something she’s doing more and more as her confidence continues to grow (read Diana’s thoughts on the changes we’ve seen in Annie here.)
Imaginary play
This morning, while Elizabeth and I were cleaning the playroom, Annie was sitting in the window. She playfully opened her mouth for a “drink of water” through the glass. She’s not the only chimpanzee at CSNW that we have witnessed play this game. We caught a short clip of it:
This reminded me of something I saw, but failed to get on camera a few weeks ago. Jamie was sitting on this small toy horse and scooting along the playroom floor. She then lifted her leg up high and over in an exaggerated dismount. Two things stood out to me- the first was how interesting it is to me that chimps engage in this type of pretend play, and second- how truly little we know about the chimps’ histories. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing when she “dismounted”. We suspect she was a “pet” prior to the lab, but was she raised by a cowboy (hence the boot obsession?), did she just see this on TV?, or was she taught to ride a horse at some point? We may never know, but it was a fascinating moment none the less.
Here’s a photo of the horse, for scale. 🙂
Burrito turns 28
Planning birthday parties for the chimpanzees can sometimes be a challenge. We try to keep things creative, and come up with ideas that are uniquely suited to the honoree’s interests. For some of the chimps, this can be tricky. How do you plan something new and exciting for Jamie, the girl who’s seen and done it all? Burrito, on the other hand, is extraordinarily easy to please. The one thing he loves above all else is food.
For Burrito’s birthday last year, we did away with our three-meal-a-day routine in favor of very frequent snacks. He was so delighted that we decided to do it again this year. Here is today’s meal schedule (we may have gone a little overboard, but what’s a party without a little indulgence?):
8:30 a.m.: apples, oranges, fruit smoothie
10:00 a.m.: sweet potatoes, grapes, cabbage
12:00 p.m.: leeks
1:00 p.m.: bananas
2:00 p.m.: peanut butter sandwiches, tangerines
3:30 p.m.: pears, avocados, pineapple
In addition to all of the delicious food, the chimps really enjoyed checking out their presents from friends Robbi and Dick. It really has been a day of riches.
